Chapter Thirty Five

The night air was warm around them as they stepped from the car that deposited them outside the front door of Jon’s beach house. They had slipped away from the Perelman party just after midnight, both of them tired from all the social chit chat that was enjoyable but draining. An oval moon shone brightly in the clear sky casting a gentle luminance over the silhouettes of the properties around them and framing the dark shadows of the surrounding trees. The distant murmur of the ocean called out enticingly as Rachel waited for Jon to unlock the door.

“It’s such a beautiful night – how about a walk?”

Turning to her in surprise as he knocked off the alarm, Jon raised his brows and grinned.

“Just a walk?”

“Well, we could always build a sand castle if we get bored……”

Chuckling Jon motioned for her to wait at the door, “Hang on there just one second, I got a better idea!”

Leaving her at the porch, Jon disappeared down the darkened hallway in the direction of the kitchen, a faint light that looked suspiciously like the refrigerator door spilling out from around the corner. Sure enough, he reappeared moments later barefoot, with a bottle of wine and a towel under one arm and a pair of glasses and their flip flops dangling from the fingers of his other hand.

Handing Rachel her flip flops, he winked at her and turned to relock the door. 

“Never go to the beach unprepared baby!”

Laughing she kicked off her heels and left them behind a plant pot on the porch, sighing gratefully when her feet slipped into the comfort of the flat shoes. Toeing on his own, Jon offered her his free arm and together they made their way across the garden to the small side gate of the property that led down a sandy path to the shoreline.

The beach was deserted as they made their way through the soft sand, the calm ocean in front of them glimmering in the twilight. A scattering of lights twinkled beyond the dunes marking out the boardwalk in the distance underneath the black night sky. Hand in hand they walked a short way down the beach until Jon spread out the towel a little way back from the gently breaking waves and poured them both a glass of wine.

“To moonlight walks!” Jon offered her a toast with a cheeky smile and eased himself down on the towel, patting the space beside him.

“And many more!” Balancing her glass carefully, Rachel dropped to her knees and scooted up to lean into his arms. They sipped their wine in silence for a few comfortable minutes, content in watching the kaleidoscope of sparkling stars high above them combining with the blinking lights of faraway planes making their way silently through the night sky.

Eventually Jon squeezed his arm a little tighter around her, breathing in the light perfume that wafted through her loose hair.

“Whatcha thinkin’?”

He had observed the woman by his side all evening; her confident and warm personality had shone through in their conversations with the many various guests. He had to admit he’d been a little worried after their unpleasant altercation with Andrea and although she smiled brightly all evening he had no idea what was really going on behind her twinkling eyes.

“Nothing much…..just enjoying the view – the ocean is so beautiful at night.”

Sighing happily, Rachel took another sip of her wine and nestled deeper into Jon’s comfortable chest.

Nodding Jon followed her gaze out across the ocean. “It sure is…..I’m glad you’re here Rach….”

Surprised at the sudden emotion in his voice, Rachel twisted around to smile warmly at him in the moonlight.

“Good! Me too!”

“I’m sorry about Andi earlier, I always knew she was a bit spoilt but I didn’t ever think she could be that much of a bitch.”

Grinning Rachel shook her head at him before resuming her scrutiny of the horizon. “No need to be sorry Jon, she’s past history now.”

“You should’ve been an attorney you know? The cool way you defend yourself is pretty impressive! I’d hate to come up against you in the boardroom.”

Rachel laughed lightly; “It’s a little tricky – the whole business and women thing. There’s a fine line between holding your own and being a bitch. My business is so male-driven it can be a touchy thing to navigate at times.”

“Well I learned from my Mom all about the advantages of having women in charge – and I haven’t forgotten it. I have more women working for me than men most of the time – it works.” Jon chuckled as he added a little sheepishly; “Doesn’t hurt of course that they’re better lookin’ too!”

Rolling her eyes, Rachel jabbed him playfully in the ribs and moved to stretch out on the towel beside him, her lower back beginning to ache from the hours spent in her heels. Turning onto her side, she leaned on her elbow and gazed up at his silhouette in the darkness.

“Mama’s boy huh? What did you want to be when you grew up? Was it always music?”

Looking down at her curled beside him, Jon nodded.

“Yeah, it was all I ever imagined doing, nothing else came into the picture. What about you?”

Rachel sighed softly; “A mother – it was all I ever aspired to be. Real estate was just something I fell into after school and then when the babies were a long time coming, the money in the boom time allowed us to pay for expensive fertility treatments that we otherwise couldn’t have afforded, so it served a purpose I guess.”

The surprise echoed in Jon’s voice and he paused as he searched for the right words. “I didn’t realise you had fertility issues…….obviously it worked out?”

She gazed up at him from her comfortable lounge on the soft sand, a ghost of a remembering smile lifting her face in the moonlight. “Yeah, it took a while but when I got pregnant with Lauren it was bigger than New Year’s Eve you know? It made the wait for Tyler a lot easier because at least we had her.”

Jon drew his knees up to his chest and leaned back on his hands as he watched her relive the memories, quietly listening to her soft voice continue.

“They were almost five years apart so Lauren started school shortly after Tyler came along and I was able to devote my world to each of them when they were just babies. Real estate is a perfect career for a woman raising kids – I was able to set my own hours and such – go on all the field trips, do the whole ‘room Mom’ thing – it worked really well.”

Surprised at her admission, Jon raised a brow questioningly. “So you weren’t really a ‘career woman’ per se?”

“Oh no! I was a homemaker – by choice, and I loved it. Our kids barely knew their Mom had a job!”

Shrugging she smiled up at him; “I mean I would hold an open house a couple weekends a month but the rest of the time I was just ‘Mom’. Most of the time the kids were with me or Nick – we made it a point to rarely have to get a sitter.”

Sitting up, she ran her hands through her hair and reached for her wine as Jon quietly absorbed the glimpse into her past life.

“So how did you end up where you are now?” Tilting his head, he winked across at her with a mischievous grin. “I seem to recall you were a top dog in the real estate world – or so you told me as you were ripping my clothes off that first night!”

Rolling her eyes, Rachel smirked and held up a finger. “Two corrections – number one – I still am a top dog and number two – I believe it was you that made the first move that night, stud!”

Topping up their glasses, Jon acknowledged her corrections with a chuckle. They were finally having a conversation where she wasn’t shutting down on him and it was refreshing.

“I dunno Rach – your memory seems a little hazy but I’m not letting you change the subject by throwing sex out there so c’mon – finish telling me about your rise to the top of the real estate ranks.”

Snorting Rachel shook her head as she buried the base of her wine glass in the sand beside her.

“Whatever Bongiovi! If you must know it was pretty simple really. I basically discovered if I was going to have a life I’d have to limit the number of buyers I worked with and focus primarily on listings. So, I transitioned to being a listing agent and streamlined that process therefore making it more efficient.”

Pursing her lips, she shrugged. “Turns out I was  a pretty good marketing person and I developed a reputation that seemed to have referrals coming to me hand over fist and it all just kinda snowballed from there.”

Impressed, Jon blew out a low whistle between his teeth. “So – first class Mom, successful business woman – is there anything you suck at?”

Rachel reached over to poke him in the ribs again and crawled into his lap, peppering his mouth with soft kisses. “Compliments will get you everywhere Mr Bongiovi – but I am out of practice with the latest sexual trends – think you can help me sharpen my skills a little?”

With her lithe little body rubbing against his hips, Jon groaned when he felt his ever diligent cock stir in his pants. Reciprocating her kisses he mumbled against her lips; “I haven’t noticed you coming up short in that department…….”

Giggling, Rachel sat up on his thighs, her dress riding high on her bent knees. She grinned wickedly as her fingers moved to unbutton his shirt further. “I hear you’re a hard man to keep satisfied – I don’t want you wandering back to the ‘skank tank’ because you’re bored!”

Jon’s hands crept under the hem of her dress, his fingers searching for the line of her panties as she wriggled her hips seductively. “Right now I’m just a ‘hard’ man…….and somehow I doubt I could ever be bored with you.”

When he worked her dress up above the curve of her butt, his hands moved to caress her bare hips, his thumbs hooking down the flimsy material of her panties. In the darkness he could feel Rachel reach the bottom of his shirt and begin work on his belt where his erection begged mercilessly to be released. Very much aware that they were on a public beach and the cover of night wasn’t anywhere near a good enough privacy screen, Jon reluctantly withdrew his hands from her hips to gently still her busy fingers.

“Rach – we need to take this home where we can do it right.”

            

Consumed by the heady concoction of too much wine and raw lust, Rachel barely heard his soft murmur only stopping to frown when his hands prevented her from taking things any further. Confused, she glared down at him from her perch on his lap.

“What?”

“We gotta stop baby – right now or I’m not gonna be able to stop until I have you screaming my name over and over. Do you wanna risk pictures of this showing up in a day or so for all your family to see?”

Frustrated and annoyed, Rachel stared at him incredulously. “Are you freakin kidding me?? HERE? Is that even a remote possibility? I mean seriously Jon – it’s the middle of the night for God’s sake – there’s nobody here!”

Regretfully Jon shook his head at her, his frustration was equal to hers but he needed to show her this side of his life; “You don’t know that Rach – anything done in a public place is liable to being photographed – the fuckers are everywhere.”

Annoyed at their interruption, Rachel scowled and gestured wildly with her hands.

“How do you live like that? I mean that is insane! You do know I was only mere seconds away from an incredible orgasm right – just from sitting here! Damn it Jon!”

Grinning at her sexually charged frustration, Jon let his guard slip just a little as a sneaky idea formed in his head. He knew they were potentially exposed here on the beach but there was a place just yards away that would afford them the right amount of privacy. Reaching up to frame her face, he kissed her pouting lips hard and smirked up at her when he pulled back.

“Ever had a midnight swim?”